To determine the chances of the Magic receiving two of the top three picks, the Orlando Sentinel enlisted the expertise of Larry Winner, a statistics professor at the University of Florida and an expert in probability.

According to Winner, there’s approximately a 1-in-13,167 chance that the Magic, the Nuggets and the Knicks will simultaneously win top-three picks in the lottery. Expressed as a percentage, the probability of that scenario occurring is 0.0076 percent.

With their own pick, the Magic will have approximately a 47.0 percent chance of receiving a top-three choice: a 15.60 percent chance of picking first, a 15.74 percent chance of picking second and a 15.59 percent chance of picking third. The Magic can receive no worse than the sixth pick.

The Nuggets finished with the 11th-worst record among non-playoff teams, while the Knicks finished with the 12th-worst record among non-playoff teams.

For the Magic to receive a top-three pick from the Knicks or the Nuggets, both the Knicks and the Nuggets would have to finish the lottery in the top three.

Winner also calculated the odds of the Knicks and the Nuggets finishing the lottery with top-three picks and the Magic finishing outside of the top three with their own pick. The professor said there’s a 1-in-2,298 chance of that scenario occurring (0.044 percent).

This time, something strange and wonderful happened. The skies cleared, the rain stopped and the starving blind man gorged himself on a much-needed victory and finally regained his sight ¿ the vision of making the playoffs.